The VAR Guy

Extreme Networks isn’t a networking giant. Instead, the company quietly focuses on four core vertical markets: Higher education, government, health care and hospitality. Think about that for a minute… At a time when everybody is concerned about an IT spending slowdown, three of Extreme’s four target markets are somewhat insulated from economic turbulence. That’s a pretty compelling message for partners seeking to maintain healthy revenue pipelines.

As networks and applications converge with one another, many pundits are focused on the looming showdown between Cisco Systems and Microsoft. But there are plenty of subplots worth following in the unified networks market. One of them involves Microsoft channel veteran Steve Hale (pictured), who is quietly working to build the networking industry’s next $1 billion company.